The arms and weapons industry is a global business encompassing the manufacturing of weapons, military technology and equipment. It is estimated that yearly, over 1.5 trillion United States dollars are spent on arms and weapons industry expenditures worldwide. The arms and weapons industry is enormous.
In the context of firearms, a sling, or gun sling, is a type of strap or harness designed to allow a shooter to carry a firearm (usually a long gun such as a rifle, carbine, shotgun, or submachine gun, etc.) on his/her person. For the purposes of this document, there are two main types of gun slings, (1) a one-point gun sling, and (2) a two-point gun sling.
A two-point gun sling has two connection points that attach near to the front and rear of the weapon. The two-point gun sling allows the shooter to carry the weapon over his/her back, with the sling draped across the torso, around the neck or over one shoulder. Some two-point slings may be adjustable so that the circumference of the sling can be increased or decreased. A two-point sling is cumbersome and does not allow you to make dynamic movements with a rifle, such as switching shoulders or shooting from a prone position. The two-point gun sling can interfere with the shooter's movement and hang up on the shooter's gear.
A one-point sling only attaches on the weapon at one connection point. The one-point sling design permits the shooter to transition to firing from the opposite shoulder. This sling design is best suited for short-term tactical use. One of the negative attributes of the one-point sling includes a tendency to make the rifle dangle and hang off the shooter in an inconvenient fashion. The one-point gun sling can interfere with the shooter's movement and hang up on the shooter's gear. The one-point gun sling does not allow the user to be hands free and still maintain positive control of the firearm or weapon.
Some devices have been developed to allow a user to convert or change between a two-point sling state and a one-point sling state. However, such devices are very inefficient time-wise and can be cumbersome to use. When milliseconds can be the difference between life and death, the current prior art devices that provide slings convertible between a two-point sling state and one-point sling state can be relatively time consuming. As a result, there exists a need for improvements over the prior art, and more particularly, for a better apparatus that enables an operator to more quickly, carry and access a weapon when necessary.